Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer who started his career on PC World and has written for dozens of computer and technology magazines, as well as numerous national newspapers, business and in-flight magazines. He has also written several books, and creates occasional videos.
He is old enough to have owned the original Macintosh. He currently owns an M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, an M1 13-inch MacBook Air, an iPad mini, an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and multiple HomePods. He suspects it might be cheaper to have a cocaine habit than his addiction to all things anodised aluminum.
He’s known for his op-ed and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review:
He speaks fluent English but only broken American, so please forgive any Anglicised spelling in his posts.
He gets a lot of emails and can’t possibly reply to them all. If you would like to comment on one of his pieces, please do so in the comments – he does read them all.
Key iPhone assembler Foxconn has echoed Apple’s chip shortage warning that production will be hit this quarter, saying that the lead time for some chips is now anything up to a year.
Apple said during its last earnings call that although the impact on iPhone production would be limited, it did expect shortages of iPads and Macs …
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A senator investigating reports of the DoD tracking US citizens without warrants says that he is unable to share his findings with the public. Senator Ron Wyden says that, although he received responses from the Department of Defense, the answers given to him included classified information.
Wyden is calling for the DoD to release the information to the public in order to determine whether the people consider its actions acceptable …
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There’s growing evidence pointing to a smaller notch in the iPhone 13, and a new report today says that a smaller Face ID chip will play a role in making this possible.
Reports of a smaller notch in this year’s iPhone lineup date back to January, with additional evidence emerging since then …
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British researchers suggested back in February that the NHS contact tracing app saved thousands of lives in England and Wales. Some were skeptical, noting that the claim was based on extrapolation rather than hard evidence, but peer review has now backed the claim.
As we noted last time, the privacy protections built into the coronavirus contact tracing API by Apple and Google made it challenging to measure the impact of the app …
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A survey of more than 3,000 owners of Apple products found that 61% of them plan to buy AirTags, and the majority of those intend to buy multi-packs. The survey also revealed (somewhat worryingly) what they intend to track.
Color choices were also discovered for those planning to buy the new iMac …
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A research study into use of social media platforms by minors found that upwards of 40% of children under 13 were using them, despite accounts supposedly being limited to teenagers and adults. The research included TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
The study also found that a full third of minors had experienced an “online sexual interaction,” which included being asked for, or receiving, nude photos …
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Twitter users are reporting that their M1 iPad Pro orders have had their status updated from “Preparing to ship” to “Shipped.”
Apple remained vague on the actual launch and delivery dates, simply saying second half of May, but we last month discovered the May 21 date in the HTML for a website announcement …
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I love Time Machine. As the old saying has it, the only reliable backup is a fully automated one, and that’s what Apple’s Time Machine utility provides. But… it’s perhaps a little too automated for some situations – and that’s a problem the free TimeMachineEditor app sets out to solve.
Unless you want to do them totally manually, Time Machine offers you no control over when backups take place …
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We’re expecting a smaller iPhone notch this year, but a designer has put together a concept with a whole new approach to the notch.
Instead of a center notch to accommodate things like the front-facing camera and Face ID tech, designer Antonio De Rosa imagines lifting the front-facing tech above the display with a funky offset design …
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The Apple Developer Academy is being expanded to Detroit and Korea. The Detroit location will be the first time the programs have ever been made available in the US.
The academy offers two programs for would-be iOS developers, one of which lasts a month, the other around a year. Both are free of charge to successful applicants, and Apple provides all the necessary technology …
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Most people don’t want to be tracked by apps or websites for privacy reasons, but there are those who actively want their location to be constantly tracked for tax reasons – and there are apps to meet that need …
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A security researcher with a solid track record in discovering Wi-Fi vulnerabilities has discovered new ones, some of which are part of the core security protocols of the Wi-Fi standard, so are present in virtually every device from 1997 onwards.
The flaws could be exploited to steal sensitive data, control smart home devices, and even take over some computers. There are, however, two pieces of good news. First, the real-life risks for ordinary users are very small. Second, it’s easy to protect yourself against even these small risks …
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The Drop + THX Panda headphones are either a very interesting alternative for anyone considering buying Apple’s AirPods Max, or wouldn’t be in the running. Which applies depends entirely on what it is you’re looking for…
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The UK’s Financial Ombudsman has opened an investigation into whether Apple discriminates against severely disabled customers through its iPhone Upgrade Program conditions.
The complaint was filed by Colin Hughes, a quadriplegic Apple user who says he is unable to comply with Apple UK’s requirement to visit a store in person in order to join or renew …
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Taiwanese tech company Micro-Star international (MSI) is best known for its gaming PCs, but its new Creator Z16 laptop is firmly aimed at the MacBook Pro market.
The new high-end laptop bears more than a passing resemblance to the MacBook Pro, with its CNC-milled aluminum body. Both the machine’s specs and MSI’s messaging also see it targeting visual professionals such as designers, artists, photographers, and videographers …
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A COVID-hit Foxconn plant in India has resulted in iPhone production being halved at the facility, as the country struggles to cope with a severe spread of the infection. The country is now the worst-hit in the world in terms of fatalities, having overtaken Brazil last month on a rolling average basis.
More than 100 Foxconn employees at the plant have tested positive, and no staff are allowed to enter the facility until late May …
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Human rights groups have found evidence suggesting that seven Apple suppliers in China are using forced labor through state-run “poverty alleviation programs” targeting the Uyghur population.
It says that the suppliers operate in prison-like compounds, with detention centers attached to factories, complete with guards in watchtowers …
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The pandemic has seen a dramatic increase in the number of scam messages sent via text, email, WhatsApp, and other messaging platforms …
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An app for first responders has helped Denmark quadruple the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rate, and it’s all thanks to trained volunteers.
Medical experts hope that similar results could be achieved in the US if safety concerns can be overcome …
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We’ve learned that a new Kensington StudioDock is in the works, after it turned out that the model for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro isn’t compatible with the 2021 model …
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Trying the VanMoof S3 electric bicycle for a couple of weeks gave me the chance to put one of my theories to the test.
Expand Expanding CloseAttaching a dedicated tracking device to an item is merely an interim solution. The long-term approach is for companies to embed Find My tech directly into their own products …
The consensus view of the Epic Games case is that Apple is likely to win, but Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has today suggested that it may not be quite as clear cut as that.
He argues that Apple may end up making some further concessions to developers to help fend off similar lawsuits and antitrust investigations in the future…
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The new WhatsApp privacy policy has seen yet more backtracking by platform owner Facebook. It now seems that the company has given up on trying to force users to agree to its new privacy policy …
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Netflix is considering launching a companion service to offer things like behind-the-scenes content, tentatively named N-Plus.
Surprisingly, the company doesn’t seem to be planning to charge an additional subscription for it, rather to make it a free add-on, with some content available even to those without a Netflix subscription …
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